One of us was going to break down – it was either my keyboard or myself. I pounded and pounded on the keys, but the computer beeped instead, laughing in defiance. I had reached my breaking point.

It was one of those weeks. The ones when you have more to do than time allows. I had too much on my plate, and I was about to give my keyboard a crack over my knee when a pop-up ad caught my attention.

“Cheap Tickets,” it flashed.

I decided to give it a click with the mouse, which doesn't let me down like the keyboard does. Instantly, I was asked where I was leaving from and going to, when I was departing and would return, and how I would travel: Round-trip? One way? I clicked away: San Francisco , Seattle , London . The idea of an escape excited me.

Until I saw the price.

“Cheap Tickets” was not as cheap as I had hoped. I was about to click out of the pop-up ad when suddenly I spied my mistake.

The last entry was wrong. It was backward. Instead of requesting a plane ticket from Chicago to London , I requested the opposite. From London to Chicago .

The error didn't seem like that big a deal, but it got me thinking: People from London and all over the world travel to Chicago , so why can't I? Yes, I know: How can you travel to a place when you already live there?

I have done it once before. I could do it again.

During college, I studied abroad in Rome for a semester. My goal was to travel somewhere new every weekend. However, one weekend my plans for a trip to Sicily fell through. I was devastated. I felt I had missed an opportunity and wasted a weekend. Luckily, my travel companion knocked some sense into me, suggesting we explore Rome instead. How silly of me, I thought. One of the most beautiful cities in the world was right out my door, and I had not even seen it. I gave it a shot, and it was one of the best weekends of my semester.